Awkward Beginnings
by whiterook
Summary: After a botched assassination attempt, Integra and Enrico are forced to go into hiding, together. This is essentially a story about the beginings of HellsingIscariot cooperation but I may include EI in later chapters.
1. Sweet Assassinations

A/N: This is an AU story because much as I wish it would, I doubt this will be happening in the true Hellsing universe. This is essentially a fic about the beginnings of Hellsing/Iscariot cooperation, if it fits with the storyline I will probably be including E+I in later chapters though it is a pairing that I do not normally ship.

**Chapter 1: Sweet Assassinations**

Enrico Maxwell had a headache, and it was not the sort of pain to be cured with a cold flannel and a couple of paracetamol either, this was verging on migraine territory. This coupled with the fact that he would soon be meeting with that ever-annoying heathen Integra Hellsing conspired to put him in an extremely foul mood. The meeting he was heading towards was the fifth of a series of talks that had been taking place for the past year.

The aim of the talks was to broker a peace treaty between Hellsing and Section 13; they had been progressing with the speed of a small mollusc. Admittedly; Enrico mused, his demands had been a tad high at first, he doubted that Integra would ever under any circumstances get rid of her pet nosferatu, change the official Hellsing religion to Catholic _and_ agree to work under his command. But after all, he rationalised, was that not the point of diplomatic talks? To start high and gradually reduce your expectations until you reached a point of agreement, however there was one point on which he stood firm, he would not have friendly relations with a group that employed vampires, least of all ones such as Alucard. He smirked to himself as he savoured the frustration his obstinacy had caused, and would still cause. Sir Integra's one failure as a diplomat was her temper, and oh how he loved provoking that.

Enrico was jolted out of his pleasant daydreams by the car coming to an abrupt halt, he heard Father Renaldo mutter, "oh not the tyres again." Enrico groaned and lazily raised his head a little but decided that he was in too much pain to sit up, that decision probably saved his life for it was at that point that the first bullet came through the windscreen.

Enrico quickly rolled of the seat on to the car floor, fighting his instincts, which were screaming at him to get out of the car, his rational mind told him that the instant he left the car he would be even more at risk. He quickly followed Father Renaldo's example and drew his gun. Father Renaldo gestured to him to keep quiet and stay down, through his adrenaline, Enrico grinned, his attackers were about to make a fatal mistake. Sure enough, Enrico's sharpened senses soon heard footfalls approaching, he listened harder, it seemed as though there were only three of them, so much the better for him. He heard muffled voices and one set of footsteps separated and went over to the driver's side where Father Renaldo waited for them. Enrico fixed his full attention on his door, instinctively knowing that it would be the one they would go for, so far it had been a notably unprofessional attempt on his life, but at least they knew where he would be seated.

The whole process seemed agonisingly slow to Enrico but in reality it was as fast as lightning. The first assassin got a bullet in the face and fell on top of his companion who had just taken a shot at Enrico, this deflection caused the bullet to merely graze Enrico's arm and in the meantime the second assassin had breathed his last. Enrico glanced over to Father Renaldo who had killed his opponent without incident, and ignoring his wound, got out of the car. He stood there a few minutes gulping the fresh air and fighting the familiar nausea, he had always had this problem and until he learnt to control it he had always thrown up after having killed, he had never felt any particular remorse for his slain enemies, he was an Iscariot after all, he just had this annoying physical reaction. Ah well, he mentally shrugged it off, it did not really matter as it only happened after the battle.

When he turned to face Father Renaldo his face was impassive," well," he drawled "I expect we had better contact our hosts, that is, if this wasn't arranged by them." Father Renaldo frowned, "do you think they were responsible?" "No," sneered Maxwell, "I have enough respect for that Protestant sow, to know that if she planned something of this manner she would have come a lot closer to succeeding." He frowned at the corpses on the road, "of course that conclusion immediately begs the question, whom?"

Integra took a deep drag of her cigar, her icy glare unabated, why the hell did Maxwell always have to be late? It's not as though it's the slightest bit impressive, it merely served to annoy her. One thing was for sure, he was an appalling diplomat, she smiled coldly, mind you, she wasn't too brilliant either. She was currently seated in The Cabinet War Rooms with an extremely bored, Captain Bernadette whom it was obvious was perusing a dirty magazine behind his newspaper, the least observant person would have noticed that said newspaper hadn't had a page turned in ages. Integra sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, she'd originally had Seras accompany her on these talks but Maxwell had flatly refused to talk with a vampire in attendance. Of course this had done nothing for the Police Girl's emotional state, Integra had of course defended he officer, but had secretly felt exasperated, it would help if she wasn't so dammed sensitive. She would probably have continued to bring Seras along merely to spite Maxwell but she'd had pity on the distraught Seras; who was now almost as terrified of Maxwell as she was of Andersong. So now she was stuck with the obnoxious Frenchman, wasting precious time she could be using to run her organisation.

Just then a man entered the room bearing two cups of tea, Integra didn't normally pay much attention to peasants, but eager for a distraction she scrutinised the newcomer, he swept his hair back from his handsome face and smiled at Integra in a way that, had he been a little less menacing, might have made her blush. As it was, she was on her guard and this made her notice, under the thin material of his jacket, the unmistakeable shape of a shoulder holster. Seeing in her eyes that he'd been rumbled, he quickly drew the contents of the shoulder holster, but not quickly enough, a bullet from Integra's gun soon shattered that pretty face. Pip jumped up cursing, hoping against hope that Sir Integra was not harmed, he didn't fancy explaining to Alucard that his master had been hurt because he's been too engrossed in Brigitte from Paris. Pip, seeing that Integra was unharmed quickly followed her example and drew his gun, positioning himself in front of her, hoping that his willingness to place himself in danger would make up for his sluggish reactions. He was just in time, two of the assassins compatriots; hearing gunshots rushed to the scene. Pip easily dispatched them and waited for more.

No more came, after a few minutes Pip glanced over at Integra, "do you think that was it, boss?" he queried, a little incredulous. Integra frowned, "it certainly seems so," she examined the bodies, "and by the looks of it they were human, someone has sent _human _assassins to kill me!" She paused, a slight smile flickering across her lips, "that's actually quite sweet…"

Pip didn't bat an eyelid, he would have done, before he'd joined Hellsing but now he just accepted that sort of reaction as normal, however, it didn't pay to be complacent so he kept his gun trained on the entrance while Integra contacted Walter. She was on the phone much longer than normal and when she hung up Pip noticed she was frowning. Pip gave her a curious look and for once she decided to enlighten him. "It seems this wasn't the only botched assassination carried out today," she explained, "Maxwell's car was attacked on the way here, the attackers were; of course, destroyed. Anyway we've been ordered to go to the palace, straightaway." Pip whistled, the palace, this was serious then.

Integra was silent on the short drive to Buckingham Palace, attempting to figure out why such a pathetic attempt on her life was being taken so seriously, she hadn't even had to summon Alucard, for goodness sake! Was this all because of Maxwell, had that dammned smarmy priest kicked up a fuss? Whatever the cause, she was soon to find out as the car swept through the back-gates of the palace.

Upon arriving Integra was immediately bustled into a sitting room, where she found; to her disgust, Maxwell, lounging quite at ease on a chair by the window, a bandage round his forearm the only sign of the morning's events. Integra found herself surprised that he obviously hadn't just cowered in the car and allowed his underling; who was now hovering over him, to deal with the assassins and she half wished she'd sustained an injury of her own, to show that she could fight too, she immediately berated herself for the childishness of that thought.

Maxwell rose with his normal ironic politeness though Integra noticed that his annoyance was more thinly veiled than normal. "Sir Integra," he sneered, "I'm glad you're here, tell me, does this sort of thing normally occur in England?" Integra smiled thinly, "why Maxwell, is someone in you're position surprised? Does this 'sort of thing' never happen in Rome?" Her smile grew, she knew full well that assassination was a standard means to gain promotion within the Church, a he knew, she knew. "Well it's just generally done with more subtlety where I come from," retorted Maxwell. Integra was prevented from replying by the door opening and a senior member of The Round Table being announced. He greeted Integra and Enrico with varying degrees of warmth and after seating himself began to speak, "Following the events of this morning Her Majesty has spoken with His Holiness, they have come to the conclusion that, as both your lives are in considerable danger you will have to go into hiding and govern your organisations from afar."

A stunned silence greeted his words and almost simultaneously Enrico and Integra began to protest, "this is ridiculous Sir Thornwell," cried Integra, "we can't really be expected to go into hiding because of such a pathetic mater as this?" "I agree," protested Enrico, "This was a totally unprofessional assassination attempt." "But it may well be repeated," replied Sir Thornwell, "it has come to our attention that the way you handled the FREAK chip incident has made you plenty of enemies." (AN: For the purposes of this fanfic, Millennium doesn't exist, its AU remember.) Seeing that this statement had temporarily silenced Sir Hellsing and Father Maxwell, Sir Thornwell continued, "certain corporations, generally based in America found the FREAK chip to be a nice little investment, you're activities put a stop to their business venture. As you're predecessor," he nodded to Enrico and turned to Integra, "and you're unfortunate Uncle were prepared to be more flexible, to the extent of turning a bind eye to their activities, they assume that by removing you as individuals they remove he problem. We haven't been able to gain any more information as the American authorities are being difficult, which is why you must hide until we can."

Enrico and Integra were silent for a minute, both knowing that they couldn't refuse such a direct order from such high authority. Enrico sighed, this really wasn't a good day, "very well," he addressed Sir Thornwell, "where exactly am I supposed to go?" Seeing that Sir Hellsing was resigned to the situation Sir Thornwell smiled, "we already have a car waiting to transport you to your destination."

Enrico would later blame the combined effect of his fatigue and his migraine on the fact that he and Sir Integra were ushered out of the palace _together_, transported to their destination _together_ and ended up standing _together_ outside the safe house where _they_ would be staying

Back in Buckingham Palace Her Majesty the Queen of England sat back in her chair and smiled, whilst conversing with His Holiness she had found that they shared the view that the peace talks between two of their vital organisations were progressing entirely too slowly. They also agreed that the main reason for this was the lack of communication between the two leaders, and what better for building communication than each others company for a few weeks? She chuckled, His Holiness was really a rather nice old man when you got to know him, perhaps when Hellsing and Section 13 cooperated she would make a state visit to the Vatican, but for now her dear Sir Integra was about to provide some first rate entertainment, this was going to be very amusing indeed.


	2. Nicotine

Disclaimer: I didn't include this last time, I don't own Hellsing or anything related and it's frankly quite ridiculous to suppose that I do.

A/N Thanks to all the reviewers, you managed to reduce my mental state to that of an excited puppy with all your wonderful encouragement and lest anyone doubts the power of the reviewer, here I am writing this when I really should be studying, all to get a fast update in.

Chapter 2:

The house was beautiful, surprisingly so. Enrico had been in safe-houses before and it seemed that there was a general air of secure ugliness about them. He was surprised that the fiercely practical British did not join this consensus. The house was an eighteenth century parsonage, all mellow stone and mullioned windows. It was tucked into a corner of the South Downs, through the hills you could catch a glimpse of The English Channel, and Enrico cast a longing look at it, wishing with all his heart that he was on the other side of it. He was jolted out of his reverie by the sound of clipped English tones floating over from the parsonage.

"Good evening, Sir Integra, Father Maxwell," Walter smiled beatifically as he advanced towards them, he'd been here since mid-day making the house ready, knowing that Sir Integra would expect everything to be perfect so as not to give Father Maxwell anything to criticise. Assisted by Father Renaldo he took their luggage, leaving Integra and Enrico to follow behind, they parted with a curt nod on the upstairs landing.

"You got here quickly, Walter," Integra smiled and lit a cigar, as Walter unpacked.

"I thought it incumbent upon me to make a good first impression, something that would not be achieved by you turning up to an empty, cold house," he replied.

"You did right," said Integra quietly, then brightening she cast an affectionate look at her butler, "what would I do without you?"

"I'm sure you'd manage," laughed Walter, "but on that note, I've installed the necessary communications and I've assigned Captain Bernadette, Officer Seras and Alucard to the protection of this house." Seeing that Integra was about to protest, he quickly continued, "you must understand, your protection is of the greatest importance, Maxwell has not hesitated to summon Iscariot operatives, including Paladin Andersong."

Integra sighed, "well I suppose we must hope that no great threat occurs while I am here, you realise this would be the perfect opportunity?"

"I do not think it is a trap, Sir Integra, and if it is, our forces can be as easily mobilised here as they can from London."

"True, true," replied Integra, "I'm just going to go outside; I need to clear my head."

Meanwhile in Enrico's room the reality of his situation had just sunk in, and the Iscariot leader made a very dejected picture, he was currently seated on the end of his bed furiously massaging his forehead, willing the pain to stop. He slumped forward and muttered into his hands, "I must have committed a most grievous sin to deserve this." He had felt slightly less wretched when he heard that Heinikel, Yumiko and Andersong were coming, at least he wouldn't be totally reliant on the Protestants. He envied Father Renaldo's apparent peace of mind; the man could relax and trust himself to God. Enrico had no such luxury; he would be forced to constantly watch himself around that Protestant sow. Enrico sighed, he really needed to clear his head, he quietly slipped down-stairs and once outside, drew great relieved gulps of air. Once his head had stopped spinning he found himself enjoying the setting sun on his face and the soft fragrances coming from the garden. It was odd, he thought how these sensations were so much softer than in Italy, as though everything was being viewed through a sepia tint. He shuddered as he realised that he'd almost made a favourable comparism between this and the scorching Italian summers, mind you, he smirked if he'd had to endure one of those bone-chilling British winters, his affection for his native country would probably increase tenfold.

Enrico strolled through the rose garden lost in these calming reflections but presently his nose caught the scent of a cigar, he cursed mentally and looked for somewhere to hide. (A/N: If anyone gets the novel I'm referring to, lots of English Literature kudos to you!) Enrico paused, no, why should he hide from her? He strode forward, his frown deepening as the cigar smoke got stronger, the smell causing him to immediately want to light up.

Integra groaned inwardly as she saw Maxwell coming round the corner, his face like thunder, well that's curious she thought, he's actually showing irritation.

Enrico had intended to be polite, he really had, but the sight of Sir Integra, lounging, quite at ease, contentedly puffing away at a delicacy he had denied himself really, really annoyed him. He'd given up his cigarettes last year as a penance and his reward had been incessant headaches and a sharp deterioration in his temper. He couldn't afford to slip up in front of Sir Integra, but it was extremely hard when his inner spoilt brat was persistently screaming, "want nicotine, want nicotine now!"

Integra looked curiously over at Maxwell, if her eyes weren't deceiving her, his hands were actually shaking, and his eyes seemed particularly fixated on…her cigar? Comprehension dawned in Integra's mind and with it a truly evil smile as she remembered their less recent meetings, Maxwell had chain-smoked all the way through, that was it! He was on cold turkey! If Integra hadn't had such a tight reign on her emotions she would have had difficulty stopping herself crowing with glee.

"Maxwell," Integra said nonchalantly, "you have a fondness for smoking, correct? Why don't you try one of these? It might make a change from your dreadful Italian cigarettes."

Enrico tried to smile, but he had the uncomfortable suspicion it looked more like a snarl than anything else, "I'm afraid I'm attempting to conquer my habit, Sir Integra," he said frostily, knowing that Integra knew of his difficulty.

"Indeed?" Integra coolly raised a brow, "how very admirable," she smirked as she uttered the last word, clearly showing that she thought it was anything but, and she deliberately openly savoured her cigar.

"Perhaps," said Enrico turning on his heel, he wasn't up to his normal standard of politeness, he knew but this conversation needed to end now. After reaching the shelter of the house he risked glancing out of the window, Integra was still standing there, smoking, the fading light reflecting off of her glasses and her face stern beneath them.

Enrico bid good-night to Father Renaldo and slumped down in his room, idly noticing how pleasant it was, it would be so much easier, he thought wretchedly, if he didn't dream of her as well, he knew she'd haunt him tonight, he'd relive their conversation. They weren't like the dreams that the trainee priests would brokenly confess to him a proof of their sinful nature, but they still made Enrico blush, for in his sleep, his eyes; free of the confines his conscious mind placed on them during the day, would pick out the way her lips curved round the cigar, the way her suit curved…no. Enrico cursed, disgusted with himself, for that's all his dreams meant, he felt a contemptible physical attraction towards his enemy, something that was not uncommon but still should have been destroyed all the same. Enrico went to sleep full of savage resolutions, but he dreamt of her nonetheless.

Meanwhile, Integra waited in the garden till the light faded entirely away, and as the sun slipped down under the horizon she smiled wryly and softly said, "he really is an asshole," and you could have been forgiven for thinking she sounded fond.

A/N: Well that was more reflective than I thought it would be, I promise a return to action in the next chapter and some proper arguments between Enrico and Integra and we renew our acquaintance with the rest of the Hellsing and Iscariot team.

Please R&R! It's a huge encouragement! I'll try to keep the updates fast because I've planned out about 13 chapters.


	3. Rulers and The English Channell

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See second chapter

A/N: Well so much for my pledge to update quickly, I'm really sorry but alas, GCSE revision waits for no-one. It is only because I am currently incarcerated in the middle of the French countryside that I am even able to offer this. Thank-you for being so patient and now, on with the story!

There was a chink in the curtains; there was a chink, just at eye level in these floral patterned, understated, _English _curtains. Enrico snarled, there was no way he was getting back to sleep now, not with the morning sun burning his tired eyes and those blasted birds twittering outside the window. Groggily he stumbled out of the room to wash and upon his return saw that a steaming espresso sat on his bedside table, Enrico smiled, "Father Renaldo, I think that merits a fast canonisation."

"I'll take you to your study sir, the necessary work has just been faxed in," Enrico; who had just finished his breakfast, smiled at the older priest, his mood greatly improved by his caffeine fix and followed. As they passed through the landing Enrico took a greater notice of his surroundings and came to the conclusion that the house was, in fact, quite pleasant. Father Renaldo indicated the door to his temporary study, Enrico frowned, why was the door slightly open? Was that typing he could hear from inside? Cautious now, he peered in through the slightly open door, and what he saw made his eyes widen in horror. Enrico whipped back round the corner and confronted his sheepish looking companion.

"Father Renaldo, would you care to explain just what Integra Hellsing is doing in there?" Enrico said, outwardly calmly, but with hysteria hovering just beneath.

"Well sir, there was only one room that was suitable, for your purposes, so, seeing as you both needed the use of a study…It was concluded that." Father Renaldo trailed off at the look of utter desperation on his superiors face.

"You might at least have warned me, so that I could have woken earlier and made sure that she didn't get the good desk next to the window," moaned Enrico, realizing how petulant he sounded, but not really caring, he looked reproachfully at Father Renaldo, "I'm afraid you're going to have to forget that canonisation," He then swept into 'their' study with a thunderous frown firmly in place. Father Renaldo raised an eyebrow, sometimes he worried about his boss.

Integra looked up as Enrico entered the room, and saw immediately that he was about as pleased as she was, she'd had some time to calm herself, however, but she wasn't going to pontificate because frankly, it was too early in the morning.

"I suspect I am right in supposing you are not happy about this either," Integra's eyebrow twitched, but otherwise her face was expressionless. Enrico found himself disarmed by Integra's calmness, he had intended to make a fuss but quickly stopped himself as he realised that such a display would make him look ridiculous.

He nodded in assent to Integra's comment and going one step further, added, "I suppose we will have to make the best of it." Integra's eyes widened at Enrico's sudden display of maturity, but realised it was too good to be true as Enrico continued. Grabbing a handy meter ruler and laying it down halfway between the two desks he gestured to the half of the room containing Integra's desk, "your side," he pointed to the other half, "and mine".

In normal circumstances, such an arrangement, though slightly childish, would at least have been effective in keeping the peace. What was not taken into account though, was Enrico's growing boredom. He had finished his normal amount of paperwork, but Integra showed no signs of stopping and he was dammned if he was going to create the impression that he was less hard working than her. Unfortunately the devil does indeed make work for idle hands and Enrico began to plot ways of annoying Integra. His chance came when Integra left the room to fetch a file; Enrico quickly slipped over to the 'border' and slipped a sheet of paper from his increasingly messy side halfway over the boundary into Integra's immaculately clean side. Enrico knew he had judged it perfectly when Integra returned, it was too small a thing for her to legitimately make a fuss about but it was still enough to rile her, particularly as she knew he had done it deliberately but had no way of proving it.

This state of affairs provided Enrico with much amusement for about an hour as he watched Integra continue to covertly glare at the offending sheet of paper, it was not long, however till Integra countered with a move of her own as Enrico discovered when he returned to the room after consulting with Father Renaldo. Enrico forced himself to refrain from staring but a mere glance was enough, Integra had clearly acquired either a knife or a pair of scissors and had simply cut the piece of paper that had been intruding on her space off.

Thus began a very strange war, primarily formed of making random incursions into each others territory. The situation soon escalated and much more substantial objects than paper began to be used. Integra smiled as she dismantled the pen Enrico had pushed over onto her side, she wasn't getting a scrap of work done, but this whole ridiculous situation was actually slightly…fun?

It had been three hours into the conflict when Integra came up with a brainwave, she knew exactly what she had to do to make Maxwell admit defeat, and she smirked as she pulled her Bible out from her desk drawer and laid it open across the border so that a page rested on each side. It wasn't until she saw Maxwell's horrified face that she realised she had effectively shot herself in the foot as well, neither party was about to mutilate The Bible, she smiled grimly and walked over to the makeshift border and kicked it aside. "I suggest that we call a truce," she said, holding her hand out to Maxwell, to her great surprise he took it, somewhere in her stomach Integra felt a slight twinge as Enrico's fingers brushed her wrist, a sensation she hurriedly dismissed. Enrico picked up the ruler, and smiling said "I think that the Channel is a far superior barrier,"

"On that point I think we agree," replied Integra.

Walter was slightly worried, for the past hour there had been a noticeable silence around the temporary office, a silence that; given the dispositions of the two occupants, was not to be trusted. He fretted as he hurried down the corridor, he really should have removed all sharp objects from that room. Walter did not usually eavesdrop, he was in many respects a perfect butler but he considered this an exceptional circumstance. He was about to lower his head towards the keyhole when he heard…laughing? Had he begun to hear things? No, there it was again, Integra was laughing! He then heard Maxwell's Italian accent, though his tone appeared to be missing its customary sneer.

"And then," Enrico laughed as he remembered, "Sister Yumiko came running in, desperately asking if I was alright! I thought she'd gone mad!"

Integra laughed, "you really didn't notice?"

"No!" Replied Enrico, "I was so absorbed in the book that I completely failed to notice that we had just been attacked! There was a major battle going on just outside my door and I was completely oblivious!"

Integra smiled, she and Maxwell had been swapping humourous stories about their organisations escapades for the past hour. She had previously thought that Section 13 was a ruthless impersonal organisation but judging by what Maxwell was telling her, his core group of members were at least as eccentric as hers.

Walter sat in the kitchen earnestly willing the kettle to boil; at times like this the only remedy was a cup of tea, while he was eager for the peace talks to progress, the most he had learnt to hope for was that Integra and Maxwell would talk civilly; he shrugged, perhaps he would have to adjust his expectations. Walter's reflections were interrupted by the shrill sound of the telephone, he gasped as he saw the number on the display, Buckingham Palace!

"Good afternoon," Walter said, "this is the temporary residence of Sir Hellsing, how may I help you?"

"Ah good, it's you Walter," the voice on the other end replied.

"You're Majesty!" Walter gasped, "this is a great honour, I will fetch Sir Integra immediately!"

"No, no, in fact it is actually you I wish to speak to."

"Me ma'am?"

"Yes, I have a favour to ask you, as you well know these peace talks have been dragging on, due to the obstinacy of both parties. This has naturally begun to concern me, so I thought the best remedy would be to create some cordial atmosphere between the two, anything you can do to further this would be greatly appreciated."

"Well…of course ma'am, I would be glad to be of service."

"Ah excellent Walter, knew I could count on you, and by the way, feel free to use any means necessary."

Walter stood his mouth agape for some time after she hung up, had he really just had that conversation? His reverie was disturbed by the sound of a throat being cleared behind him; he quickly spun round to find Father Renaldo standing in the doorway. Father Renaldo looked at him steadily and said, "I just received a similar message from His Holiness, do you have any idea of just what exactly is going on here or are you as confused as I am?"

Alucard was scowling at her, Seras could feel the glare even through those yellow glasses, she sighed; great, now she had two people's gazes to avoid, Alucard's and the insane priest's. The aforesaid priest growled, "Concentrate little abomination." Pip stirred uneasily in his seat, he wanted to defend his little mignonette but he really didn't fancy tangling with Andersong, especially in such a tense round of poker. He could; he mused, appeal to Alucard, but after expending so much time and energy trying to prevent the two from fighting he really didn't want to cause a battle. Pip tried to suppress a snigger as he looked over at Alucard, the vampire was pouting, Pip rolled his eyes, honestly, the vampire had been impossible since they had disqualified him from the poker game, he still continued to maintain that mind-reading wasn't cheating. Pip paused, wait a minute! He glanced up at Alucard and gulped as he saw the red eyes focused directly on him, dammn, mind reading.

This ill-mixed group were currently taking shelter in a barn within sight of the safe-house. Andersong had arrived that morning, with news that Yumiko and Heinikel were investigating the assassins in Europe, all that was left for them to do, was wait. Walter had called earlier that day with strict instructions for Pip and Seras to ensure that Alucard and Andersong did not attempt to destroy each other. As Pip was a human and Seras a comparatively weak vampire, this was easier said than done, it would have been impossible had Andersong not received similar instructions. This was yet another reason for Alucard; who had been looking forward to a battle, to sulk. Pip sighed, on one point he sympathised with Alucard, this waiting thing was really boring.

A/N: Well I'm not too pleased with how that chapter ended; I might edit it when I'm not half asleep though I'll probably concentrate on producing Chapter 4. If anyone has any constructive criticism to offer, that would be welcome.


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